1. Search Pages and Results
INF 385E: Information Architecture and Design
Yong Huang
October 2006

2. Search What? All kinds of information:
Business: company, product, service…
Education: university, program, book…
Daily life: apartment, restaurant…
Entertainment: movie, music… …

3. Why Search? Direct access to the information we want
Alternative way to gain information in addition to browse and navigation
Compare the search results and choose a best one

4. Search Pages: Typical Layout
Search box and “go” or “search” button
Usually at the top area of the web page
Some pages locate them in the center

5. Search Pages: Search Zone
Some search pages allow users to search in a specific zone

6. Search Pages: Advanced Search
Some search pages supply advanced search

7. Precision/Recall
Precision: refers to the relevance of documents within a given result set
Recall: refers to the proportion of relevant documents in the result set compared to all the relevant document in the system
Inversely related: increase one at the expense of the other

8. Search Results: No Result
Revise your search
Try advanced search
Read search tips
Switch to Browsing
Try another web page
Next two should be pictures

11. Display Search Results
Directly display the information you search for: dictionary, encyclopedia…
List all the results that may contain the information you search

13. Google results page

15. List Search Results
Ranking: helpful when there is a need to understand information or learn something. Describe the degree to which the result is relevant to what users want
Sorting: helpful to users who are looking to make a decision

16. Sort the Search Results
By alphabet, time, location, price…
Amazon result page with sorting operations

17. Save search Results Save the web page Save the search Print Email
Send to cell phone

20. Search and IA Need search? Choose search content
Choose search algorithm
Present search results
Design search interface
Rule of thumb: User!

21. Q&A

22. THANKS!